FLAC tracks +Booklet | Classical | 63:34 | 281 Mb„Of all the major Russian composers, Reinhold Glière is one of the least well known in the West.

His life spanned a vast period from the Czar’s reign to Soviet dictatorship, and he made it through the Stalin era relatively intact by mostly avoiding conflict without losing face.

Such dilemmas were to haunt the lives of Glière’s pupil Prokofiev, and especially that of his colleague Shostakovich, 30 years younger, but they were not yet current in 1900, when 20-year-old Glière, still a student, injected all of his youthful verve into composing his String Octet in D Major, Op.

5.

The work soon gained immense popularity in Russia, where, still today, Glière’s Octet is sometimes even held in higher esteem than the likewise youthful and fresh String Octet by Mendelssohn.

Tracklist:01. String Octet in D Major, Op. 5: I. Allegro moderato02. String Octet in D Major, Op. 5: II. Allegro03. String Octet in D Major, Op. 5: III. Andante04. String Octet in D Major, Op. 5: IV. Allegro assai05. Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Minor: I. Molto agitato e con fuoco06. Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Minor: II. Andante, non troppo lento07. Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Minor: III. Allegretto grazioso08. Two Pieces for String Octet, Op. 11: I. Prelude09. Two Pieces for String Octet, Op. 11: II. Scherzo